Interlocking device for inflatable bulkheads

ABSTRACT

A safety latching mechanism for use with bulkhead cushioning systems that employ a wall-type member, a lading-engaging panel attached to the wall-type member and an inflatable envelope disposed therebetween. When the bulkhead is not in use the envelope is deflated and the lading-engagement panel is automatically and releasably maintained in close relation to the wall-type member by the latching system provided herein. Before the bulkhead can be used the latching system must first be disengaged so as to prevent damage to the bulkhead which might result from inflation of the envelope when the panel and walltype member are latchably secured in close relation.

United States Patent 1 Enochian INTERLOCKING DEVICE FOR INFLATABLE BULKHEADS Samuel H. Enochian, Thornton, Ill.

Unarco Industries, Inc., Chicago, III.

Inventor:

Assignee:

Filed:

Appl. No.:

[52] US. Cl ..105/369 BA, 105/376 Int. Cl. ..B6ld 45/00, 1360p 7/14 [58] Field of Search ....105/369 BA, 376; 214/105 A [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,192,879 7/1965 Pier ..105/369 BA 2/1969 Brown, Jr. et a]. ..l05/369 BA 1 3,724,395 1 Apr. 3, 1973 Primary Examiner-Drayton E. Hoffman Attorney-Norman Lettvin [57] ABSTRACT A safety latching mechanism for use with bulkhead cushioning systems that employ a wall-type member, a

lading-engaging panel attached to the wall-type member and an inflatable envelope disposed therebetween. When the bulkhead is not in use the envelope is deflated=and the lading-engagement panel is automatically and releasably maintained in close relation to the wall-type member by the latching system provided herein. Before the bulkhead can be used the latching system must first be disengaged so as to prevent damage to the bulkhead which might result from inflation of the envelope when the panel and wall-type member are latchably secured in close relation.

5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENIEDMH 3 I975 FIG.I

FIG.2

THIN

FIG.4

FIG.3

INTERLOCKING DEVICE FOR INFLATABLE BULKHEADS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to bulkhead cushioning systems which employ inflatable envelopes for cushioning the tendency of lading to shift within a lading-carrying vehicle; and more particularly to a safety latching system.

US. Pat. No. 3,427,997 discloses a bulkhead cushioning system which includes a center wall-type member, a pair of lading-engaging panels attached to opposite sides of the wall-type member and at least one inflatable envelope disposed between each panel and the wall. When the bulkhead is not in use the envelopes are deflated and a latching system automatically locks the panels in close relation to the wall-type member. This permits the bulkhead to be moved or stored within the vehicle as a unit. When the bulkhead is to be used and the envelopes inflated, the latching system is either manually or automatically disengaged. The system is automatically unlatched by providing a rotatable cross shaft having mounted thereto a plate which contacts the inflatable envelope and moves as the envelope is inflated. The movement of the plate rotates the cross shaft which in turn disengages the latching system. Since the automatic unlatching is dependent upon the degree of inflation of the envelopes, it is possible that this latching system may not be completely reliable and it may not prevent damage to the bulkhead resulting from the inflation of the envelopes when the latching system has not been disengaged.

It is therefore an object of this invention to overcome the problem of the prior art and to provide a safety latching system for automatically locking the panel to the wall-type member when the envelope is deflated and for positively unlocking the panel from the wall-.

type member before the envelopes are inflated so as to avoid damage to the bulkhead.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION There is provided by this invention a safety latching system for use with a cushioning bulkhead arrangement in which when the envelope is deflated the latching system automatically engages so as to lock the panel in fixed relation to the wall panel. The latching system provided by this invention provides a positive safety feature in that it requires manual disengagement of the latching system before the envelope can be inflated thereby preventing damage to the bulkhead. Thus an automatically engageable and manually disengageable safety latching system which overcomes the problems of the prior art is provided by this invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the face of the walltype member with portions thereof broken away so as to show the the relationship between the latching system and pneumatic inflation and deflation systems;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view substantially along line 2-2 of FIG. 1 depicting the lading-engaging panel locked to the wall-type member;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of a fragment of the bulkhead depicting the relationship between the latching system and valving portions of the pneumatic systems; and

FIG. 4 depicts a modified form of the latching system for use with a bulkhead which has a pair of ladin'g-engaging panels one of which is disposed on each side of the Wall-type member.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2 a cushioning bulkhead 10 generally is shown which includes a wall-type support member 12, a lading-engaging panel 14 attached thereto for movement toward and away from the wall-type member and a pair of inflatable envelopes 16 and 18 disposed therebetween for engagement therewith.

The wall-type member 12 is provided with a vertically elongated centrally positioned opening 20 within which a vertically rotatable latch, as described hereinafter, is movable. The lading-engaging panel 14 is provided with an aligned vertically elongated opening 22 for cooperation with the latching system. The inflatable envelopes 16 and 18 are disposed on either side of the openings 20 and 22 so as not to interfere with the operation of the latching system.

The latching system includes a hook-type latch member 24 which is mounted to the wall-type member 12 by means of a pair of rotatable cross shafts 26 and 28. The cross shafts 26 and 28 are supported by a pair of vertically extending internal walls 30 and 32 which are adjacent and parallel to the side edges of the walltype member 12. By rotating the cross shafts 26 and 28 the latch member 24 is rotated about a horizontal axis and moves vertically within the openings 20 and 22. A cooperating latch pin 34 is mounted to the lading-engaging panel 14 across the opening 22 in substantial horizontal alignment with the cross shafts 26 and 28 so that when the lading-engaging panel 14 is brought into close relation to the wall-type member 12 the latch member 24 can engage the pin 34.

As seen in FIG. 3, a camming surface 36 is provided on the forward end of the latch member 24 so that as the panel and wall are brought into close relation the camming surface 36 engages the pin 34 and the latch member rides upwardly thereon until the panel 14 moves sufficiently close to the wall that the pin 34 disengages the cam surface 36 and the latch drops downwardly behind the pin 34. As can be seen the latch must be rotated upwardly before the panel 14 can be moved away from the wall-type member 12.

In the embodiment herein, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a pair of air valves 38 and 40 are provided adjacent the side edges of the wall-type member 12 and are interconnected with themselves and the inflatable envelopes 16 and 18 by means of the long conduit 42 and the short conduits 44 and 46. In order to inflate the envelopes a source of compressed air is fitted to one of the air valves 38 or 40 which is then opened by rotating the appropriate valve handle. In order to prevent the envelopes from being inflated before the latch member 24 is released, handle-restrictor plate combinations 48 and 50 are mounted to the end of each cross shaft 26 and 28. These plates are arranged so that when the latch member 24 and pin 34 are in locking engagement the plates cover the entrance to the valves 38 and 40. In order to keep the plates 48 and 50 in the blocking position torsion springs 52 and 54 are mounted to the shaft and the inner walls 30 and 32 of the wall-type member 12. To prevent the torsion springs from rotating the latch member 24 past a horizontally aligned position when it is not in engagement with the latch pin 34, a latch member stop 56 is provided which is mounted to the wall-type member 12 across the opening 20 at a position which permits the stop to engage the latch member 24 and prevent it from rotating downwardly past the horizontally aligned position.

To inflate the envelopes 16 and 18 using the valve 40, the handle-restrictor plate 48 is grasped and rotated in a clockwise direction to a non-blocking position as shown by the broken lines in FIG. 3. This thus provides access to the mouth of the air valve 40 and an appropriate air gun may then be inserted therein for inflating the envelopes. As the restrictor plate is rotated the latch member 24 is similarly rotated into a disengaged or inactive position such that as the envelopes expand they are free to push the lading-engaging panel 14 away from the wall-type member 12, with the latch being in a position where it cannot engage the pin 34. After the envelopes have been inflated to the desired extent the air gun is removed and the torsion springs rotate the shaft and thus the handle 48 and latch 24 downwardly until the latch engages the stop pin 56.

Thus a positive safety feature is provided in that the envelopes cannot be inflated until the latch is disengaged. This prevents the envelopes from expanding against a latched together bulkhead and avoids any damage which might result therefrom.

Referring now to FIG. 4 another embodiment of the latch mechanism is shown. In this embodiment the bulkhead can be described as a double bulkhead 58, generally, which includes a pair of lading-engaging panels 60 and 62 one of which is disposed on either side of the center wall-type support member 64. In this arrangement a double latch member 66 is arranged to engage a pair of latch pins 68 and 70 one of which is mounted to each of the panels 60 and 62. A handlerestrictor plate 72 is provided for blocking access to the air valve (not shown). The stop member 56' prevents rotation of the double latch member 66 when it is not in engagement with the latch pins 68 and 70. The double bulkhead latching system also includes cross shafts, camming surfaces, and the like, substantially as described in relation to the single bulkhead. Functionallyboth the single and double bulkhead latching systems are identical.

It will be appreciated that numerous changes and modifications can be made to the embodiment shown herein without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent and for manually unlockin said panel when said en velope 18 to be inflated, an safety means operatively associated with said latch means and valve means for preventing the inflation of said envelope when said panel is locked in close relation to the wall-type member said safety means including a member which is movable between a first position in which the member effectively prevents access to the valve means when the latch means are locked and a second position permitting access to the valve means when the latch means are unlocked.

2. A system as in claim 1 wherein the latch means comprise a hook-shaped latch pivotally mounted to said wall-type member and a latch pin mounted to at least one of said panels, said latch means including a camming surface arranged and adapted to permit said latch to automatically engage said latch pin when said envelop is deflated and said wall and panel are in close relation.

3. A system as in claim 2 wherein said latch means further include rod-actuating means internal of said wall-type member and secured to said latch such that rotation of said rod disengages said latch from said latch pin.

4. A system as in claim 3 wherein there is further provided a handleblocking plate arrangement mounted to said rod and arranged to block access to said valve when said panel is locked to said wall-type member.

5. A system as in claim 1 wherein means are provided for biasing said safety means into said blocking position. 

1. In a bulkhead load cushioning system for freight-carrying vehicles which includes: a wall-type member, at least one ladingengaging panel attached thereto, and there being at least one inflatable envelope interposed therebetween, valve means for inflating and deflating said envelope, and latch means for releasably securing said panel in close fixed relation to said wall-type member when said inflatable envelope is deflated, the improvement which comprises, in combination: latch means for automatically locking said panel in close relation to said wall when said envelop is deflated and for manually unlocking said panel when said envelope is to be inflated, and safety means operatively associated with said latch means and valve means for preventing the inflation of said envelope when said panel is locked in close relation to the wall-type member said safety means including a member which is movable between a first position in which the member effectively prevents access to the valve means when the latch means are locked and a second position permitting access to the valve means when the latch means are unlocked.
 2. A system as in claim 1 wherein the latch means comprise a hook-shaped latch pivotally mounted to said wall-type member and a latch pin mounted to at least one of said panels, said latch means including a camming surface arranged and adapted to permit said latch to automatically engage said latch pin when said envelop is deflated and said wall and panel are in close relation.
 3. A system as in claim 2 wherein said latch means further include rod-actuating means internal of said wall-type member and secured to said latch such that rotation of said rod disengages said latch from said latch pin.
 4. A system as in claim 3 wherein there is further provided a handle-blocking pLate arrangement mounted to said rod and arranged to block access to said valve when said panel is locked to said wall-type member.
 5. A system as in claim 1 wherein means are provided for biasing said safety means into said blocking position. 